Norwegian Pearl Review

Wonderful Trip: Our Favourite Cruise To Date!

Review for the Panama Canal & Central America Cruise on Norwegian Pearl
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lizp
2-5 Cruises • Age 40s

Rating by category

Cabin
Value for Money
Embarkation
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Entertainment
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Additional details

Sail Date: Nov 2018
Cabin: Balcony
7 Mile Beach, Grand Cayman
Our Floating Home!
Cartagena
Lounging on the heated loungers in the Thermal Suite, post-pedicure.
Gatun Lake
Exiting the Panama Canal
Rainforest in Costa Rica
Chacchoben Mayan Ruins
Lots of open loungers at Harvest Caye

My husband and I took this cruise with his grandparents with the intent of having a lot of quality family time together.

This was our fourth cruise, second with Norwegian. We had previously sailed on Norwegian Jade and actually came away quite disappointed, but we were willing to give NCL a second chance, and we are VERY happy that we did! This has been our favourite cruise of the four we've taken (two now with NCL, one with RCI and one with Celebrity), and our favourite ship, as well.

Knowing that Jade and Pearl are sister ships, we knew what to expect size-wise from Pearl. We were very happy with the size of the ship (we were told that all rooms were sold and we were at about 2300 guests on board). It's not too big that it feels daunting if you need to get from fore to aft Very rarely did we feel crowded or have to wait at a bar or restaurant. The refurb to the Pearl (in comparison to our experience on the non-refurbed Jade) is GORGEOUS. The room decor is beautiful, clean and modern, and the public spaces are generally stunning.

Cabin Review

Balcony

Cabin BC

Having sailed in a Jewel Class balcony before on Jade, we knew what to expect. The room is small but efficient. Great little balcony, especially loved popping out at night to see the stars. Love the split bathroom area, closet space was sufficient. USB outlets in the bedside sconces is a great addition! Lots of power outlets, hair dryer was well powered and worked great for me. Found the thermostatic valve in the shower inconsistent -- as the ship moved, the water would go from hot to cool to hot again. Could not get the a/c cool enough, but we prefer a colder room, and felt the whole ship was rather warm most of the cruise. Our room steward was exceptional, always cheerful, and made great towel animals. Request for 4 towels instead of 2 was met every day!

Port Reviews

Harvest Caye

BEAUTIFUL beach, great place to spend the day hopping in-and-out of the water. Obviously over-commercialized and expensive, but we expected that going in and just enjoyed relaxing in the sun for the day.

Cartagena (Colombia)

Another private cab day, with obligatory stop at an emerald shop. Merchants in Cartagena are VERY aggressive, you couldn't walk 5 feet without jewelry, tablecloths and knock-off sunglasses being waved in your face. The aggression really took away from our visit, it was hard to enjoy the beautiful city.

Grand Cayman (Georgetown)

We booked a beach cabana at Royal Palms beach club. Great beach, wonderful service. Did some jewellry shopping in the port and came away happy with the service and prices.

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